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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27279121">On My Own Terms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyWife/pseuds/TheOnlyWife'>TheOnlyWife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Mentions of Dissection, nothing graphic though</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:55:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27279121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyWife/pseuds/TheOnlyWife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny had told them his secret. He'd <em>trusted</em> them. And then he'd woken up tied down to an examination table.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Danny Fenton &amp; Maddie Fenton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>167</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On My Own Terms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny’s head felt heavy. Heavy and painful. He hadn’t even opened his eyes and he could tell the world was spinning. Then he opened his eyes and <em>saw</em> the world spinning. Or was that just the ceiling fan? He blinked once, then twice. No, it was definitely his head.</p><p>He tried to rub his head, to clear some of the fog away, but he found he couldn't even lift his hand. No, it wasn’t just that. He couldn’t even <em>move</em> his hand. He tried the other one, only to find the same problem.</p><p>He lifted his head to look down, expecting to see the foot of his bed. He could have gotten tangled in the sheets. It wouldn’t be the first time.</p><p>Only to see a glowing green strap wrapped around his waist. He tried to slither out of it on instinct, confused, but found that he could barely even breathe with how tight it was.</p><p>Actually, no, he could breathe. </p><p>But that was because of the mask around his mouth, wired off behind his head, pumping in air whether he liked it or not. He decided he didn’t rather quickly.</p><p>Because he knew what room he was in. The lab, down in the depths of his basement. His breathing, whether he liked it or not, was kept under control. He decided he didn’t like that either. The only thing he knew he could move was his head, so he turned it all the way to the side, scraping the mask against the metal platform he was lying on, trying desperately to shove it off.</p><p>He didn’t like that he was in the lab, restrained on what he knew was an examination table, fighting off a headache. He was thrown back into the nightmares he’d had before he told his parents the truth.</p><p>The nightmares where this exact thing happened. The one’s where he woke up just like this, restrained and drugged, being prepped. Any second they would walk in, scalpels at the ready, along with as much determination and hatred they’d wracked up over the years.</p><p>At that point the mask was shoved off, clattering gently on the ground and spilling out whatever drug was in there into wispy white air. He shuddered at the cold breaths being taken in through his mouth as he gasped. His lungs felt sore and puffed up, harder to breathe on his own for the first time in what could have been hours.</p><p>He thought he would have calmed down, but when his gasps turned into hyperventilating, he knew he hadn’t. His head kept throbbing, even when it felt more clear than ever.</p><p>There shouldn’t be an examination table in the lab; There never had been one in all the times he’d been in here. But there was. And he was on it, arms, legs, and waist trapped under several ghost-restraints.</p><p>Had his parents always had these? He shook his body around, trying to worm his way free, even by a little, to no avail. It was wishful, dreadful thinking that he’d hoped they were for other ghosts and not meant for him all this time.</p><p>The breaths that he’d been keeping track of slowly diminished in intensity, even though he felt less calm than ever. He was in his own house, right? Someone would hear him if he yelled, right?</p><p>“Jazz?” he tried, voice already cracking. “Jazz, can you hear me?”</p><p>He waited and he waited, but no response ever came. He couldn’t even hear footsteps from any part of the house. Just dead silence from all around.</p><p>“Jazz?” He tried again. “Jazz!”</p><p>Again, nothing. “Jazz…” his voice cracked again, though that was because he was having to battle tears this time. They slipped through his eyes, falling off to each side of his faced-up cheeks.</p><p>Even in the quiet, he felt no solace. He had thought he was safe. Safe in his own house, in his own room. With his own family.</p><p>He’d trusted them with his secret. And they had promised that they still loved him. That they would never hurt him. But one memory blank later and here he was. Faced with one of his worst nightmares: being dissected by his own parents. Or at least, that’s what was going to happen. Once they came down and found him awake.</p><p>He’d lived this before. He knew what questions they were going to ask. Or, more accurately, what they were going to tell him.</p><p>Valerie had wanted her questions answered. His parents just wanted to cut him open.</p><p>Of course, it was his fault for trusting them. They had said they’d always love him, but in the heat of the moment, who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t tell their child they loved them when they poured their heart out to them?</p><p>That didn’t mean anything. When time passed, so did the moment. In the end, how could they love their freaky half-ghost son?</p><p>He was crying again before he could hear the door open from upstairs. And he was sobbing too hard to hear the sound of keys being dropped on the counter. But he was just quiet enough to hear the footsteps coming down the stairs.</p><p>He was braced for an impact that would hopefully never come for what felt like an eternity. When he heard a small gasp from the other side of the room he dared to open his teary eyes. </p><p>His mom, holding a glass of water and a pill packet, rushed to his side.</p><p>“Danny, you’re awake.” she said. “I’m so glad.”</p><p>He was waiting for the bad part. The ‘now we can begin’ part. But, no, she just set the water down and unlatched the restraints around his feet. Then she moved to his arms, unlatching those, then the one around his waist.</p><p>His body was screaming at him to fly away. To get out of the lab while he had the chance. He was sitting up, prepared to turn intangible, but she took the glass and the now-opened pill pack, handing it to him before he could.</p><p>“You should take that.” she encouraged him softly. </p><p>Stunned, he <em>did</em> take it. He downed most of the water along with it, cooling off his aching throat.</p><p>“How are you feeling?” she asked, like nothing was wrong.</p><p>“I- I don’t know.” he responded honestly. “What’s going on? Why am I down here? And...why was I tied down?”</p><p>She just smiled. “We were worried you were going to hurt yourself while the antidote took effect. And we needed to put you on lockdown so those agents couldn’t get to you.”</p><p>“Agents? Antidote?” His head was starting to hurt again.</p><p>“You mean you don’t remember?” she stared at him. “No, I suppose after a tumble like that you wouldn’t.”</p><p>Seeing his confused look, she held up a hand before he could ask anything else.</p><p>“You were shot. By the GIW.” she said simply. “The effect of it was like a poison, leeching the ectoplasm off of your body. We had to tie you down because you were thrashing around so much. Eventually, we created the cure, or at least something to treat the symptoms while we worked on the actual cure. The thing was, it seemed to work. You just weren’t waking up.”</p><p>“So you just..left me down here?” He felt something was wrong. “And what was with the mask?”</p><p>“That was because your airways kept shutting closed. We didn’t want you to stop breathing.” she nodded towards the empty pill pack. “I only left about half an hour ago to get some more Benadryl. <em>Someone</em> kept emptying our supply.”</p><p>She laughed, but it felt hollow to his ears. Why was she finding this funny? She tied him up in her basement, then left him. She just <em>left</em> him. Left him to wonder what would happen to him. Left him to wonder if he’d ever see them again. </p><p>She wiped away the tear about to fall down his face, trying to cheer him up with a small smile. He touched his cheek, finding it slightly wet and puffy.</p><p>“Jazz told me about your nightmares.” she continued, more gentle than before. “The ones about me and your father.”</p><p>“What?” he froze in fear. She promised she would never tell them. He had <em>made</em> her promise.</p><p>“I forced her to. I wanted to know what kind of pain I’d made you feel all these years.” her hands were wound up tightly into a ball in front of her tall, standing frame. “And I am so <em>so</em> sorry that we made you worried we were going to hurt you.”</p><p>“I-I’m-” the words fumbled around in his head.</p><p>“And I am so <em>incredibly</em> sorry we made you live out one of those today.” her tears spilled out one-by-one, very faintly staining her cheeks. “I’d say we had no choice, but we did. I made the decision to tie you down. And I made the choice to leave you here alone.”</p><p>“Mom, I-”</p><p>She cut him off with a hug. “I love you so much Danny. I love you so <em>so</em> much. More than any mother loves her child.”</p><p>“I love you too.” he whispered, returning the hug.</p><p>And maybe, just maybe, he felt a bit better saying that. Maybe some of the tension between them washed away when she hugged him. And maybe he loved her back more than <em>she</em> could ever imagine.</p><p>All he knew was that he, for the first time in years, felt safe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The idea of the fic goes to "everystarstorm" on Tumblr! This was just my rushed, fever-dream recreation of their idea!</p><p>All comments are welcome and appreciated! Even just a &lt;3 as an extra kudos!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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